From the perspective of those renovating such buildings, and the government agencies approving loans for them, the expense is worth the lift it gives deteriorating areas, and the safe housing it provides.

Mill Street Partners LLC will develop the Mill at Middletown, a 42-unit development that will occupy a restored and renovated main factory building at 34 Mill St. The factory was built in the late 19th century for silk hat manufacturing.

City and community officials gathered at the site on Wednesday to celebrate the construction of the Mill at Middletown, which will provide one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments at a sliding rent scale.

SHNNY awarded The Anderson with its prestigious Residence of the Year Award for Innovation in the Field at the 2014 Network Gala. The project team was recognized for its perseverance and dedication to create an outstanding environment for its tenants.

Magnusson Architecture and Planning, PC, in New York has promoted Jen Stencel, AIA, LEED AP to associate. Stencel brings eight years of professional experience to the design and construction of adaptive reuse, rehabilitation and new buildings.

Magnusson Architecture and Planning and Associated Blind HDFC broke ground on a $38 million building upgrade at Selis Manor. It is the first government-funded residence for the vision-impaired and disabled in New York City.

Officials at Selis Manor broke ground Monday on the improvement project at 135 West 23rd Street, which will add a new entrance, renovate each apartment and overhaul the building’s heating, air conditioning, mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems.

NPCR will present SoBRO with a “2014 Outstanding BOA Award” for the Lower Concourse BOA. SoBRO, along with their urban design consultant, Magnusson Architecture and Planning, and planning consultant will participate in the awards ceremony.

Mayor de Blasio has called for 200,000 new units of affordable housing in New York, and he’s made it clear that developers can build bigger if they include affordable units in their new projects. Which models of mixed-income housing have been most successful?

In the next 30 years, the number of senior citizens in the US will increase to become larger than any other single age group. How are cities starting to prepare for this huge expansion in the numbers of over-65s?

The Celebration of Architecture Gala was held on November 6, 2013 at the Mary S. Pinkham Hall at Rye County Day School. The winning projects achieved excellence in delightful and inspiring ways, and represented the breadth and vitality of our chapter area

Imagine walking over to the waterfront, putting down a blanket and watching a movie under the stars, steps from Yankee Stadium. Or moving into a gleaming new tower with stunning views of the Manhattan skyline and ready access to the Harlem River.

Today’s Buildings of the Day are a part of a development in Ocean Hill called the Vernon Cherry Homes. They are named in honor of Vernon Cherry, a Brooklyn firefighter who died at the Trade Center on 9-11.

As the city shifts its focus to housing in 2014, AIANY is set to lead the conversation. Starting in 2014, the committee is under new leadership: Fernando Villa, AIA, LEED AP, BD+C, and Peter Bafitis, AIA, have been appointed committee co-chairs.

Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio’s promise to build 200,000 units of affordable housing would have been welcome in the Bronx twenty years ago. It is immensely gratifying to see a politician who understands the needs of all New Yorkers.

MAP celebrated the groundbreaking of Soundview Family Housing, the first phase of a multi-building development that will meet demand for affordable housing in the Soundview neighborhood of the South Bronx.

With Bill de Blasio, polling more than 40 points ahead of his nearest rival in next week’s election, it seems likely that the next mayor will be someone who has made the creation of housing for low- and middle-income residents a central point in his campaign.

For the hundreds of homeowners in the five boroughs who are still without a home after Superstorm Sandy, the Bloomberg administration has just assembled a crack team to help design and build them new ones.

The new headquarters are housed in a four-story commercial building originally constructed in the 1970’s, which was purchased by Children’s Aid Society and has undergone both interior and exterior renovations.

Thomas McGrath, a CPC senior vice president, says the goal is to have people living on Main Street again and shopping locally at stores they use every day “We think Main Street can still be a part of communities, to make them livable again.”

As SMPS-NY’s first Member of the Month, Sarah Galus was chosen for her leadership abilities not only in her role as Marketing Manager at Magnusson Architecture and Planning, PC, but her involvement in SMPS.

Located in the Stage II Silver certified LEED for Neighborhood Development Melrose Commons section of the South Bronx, El Jardin de Selene is the first affordable housing development on privately acquired land to receive LEED-Gold Certification.

In the newer model, a team of doctors, social workers, physical and occupational therapists and other specialists provides managed care for individual patients at home, at adult day-care centers and in visits to specialists.

The newly built Atlantic Terrace, a 10-story co-op also on South Oxford Street, had both affordable and market-rate units. Mr. Singh liked a two-bedroom two-bath with around 1,070 square feet of space.

When the developers of Atlantic Terrace, an 80-unit co-op in Fort Greene, began planning, they envisioned occupants reflecting the populace on the sidewalks of Brooklyn — that is, diverse in all ways, but especially economically.

While many developers utilizing condominium deliver the bare minimum number of affordable units required by law, the partnership of developers behind Atlantic Terrace in Fort Greene took the opposite route.

There’s a perception that market-rate buyers in NYC are hesitant to buy in mixed-income developments. But the 75% affordable, 25% market-rate Atlantic Terrace at 212 South Oxford in Brooklyn is proving the perception wrong.

The newest co-op building on the block, The Atlantic Terrace, is the neighborhood’s first LEED Gold-certified green development, which is bringing not only environmentally conscious, but affordable living space to Brooklyn.

The tri-venture was recognized for its role in rebuilding the Melrose Commons Urban Renewal Area in the South Bronx, and turning a previously blighted neighborhood into a sustainable, pedestrian-oriented mixed-use, mixed-income development.

The recent ground breaking on a new, mixed-use, multi-family housing development, designed by Magnusson Architecture and Planning (MAP), marked the start of the second phase of the downtown revitalization plan for Spring Valley, NY.

Brownfields have been defined as “property that has remained idle, abandoned or underutilized because of contamination or the threat of contamination.” That definition certainly applies to the Atlantic Terrance property prior to its redevelopment.

Designed by award-winning Magnusson Architecture and Planning, PC, this new high school for students with emotional, behavioral and academic disabilities is the first facility of its kind in the Bronx.

Melrose Commons, a once-dilapidated South Bronx neighborhood that underwent a massive redevelopment as a 35-block urban renewal zone, has been awarded LEED Stage II Silver Certification for Neighborhood Development by the USGBC.

The event celebrated the topping out of the 12-story affordable housing development designed by Magnusson Architecture and Planning. Further cause to celebrate is the fact that El Jardin de Selene is a full forty days ahead of schedule in spite of the economic downturn.

The Bronx Early Learning Center is a 22 classroom preschool for both typically developmental and learning delayed children. This project consolidates the operations of two existing Bronx preschools into a new state-of-the-art early learning facility.

In the last 25 years, Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation has created 259 units of affordable housing in impoverished sections of eastern Brooklyn, including the neighborhood of Cypress Hills, from which it took its name.

The new construction sites represent one of the first efforts in more than five decades to pump vitality into a once-flourishing section of this Rockland County village just north of the New Jersey border.

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz (at center with shovel) joins others to break ground for Atlantic Terrace, a mixed-use and affordable housing development on Atlantic Avenue at South Oxford Street.

The City Planning Commission certified as complete Stapleton Court, an affordable development on what is now a little-used municipal parking lot in a waterfront neighborhood that has been waiting for a catalyst for revitalization.

“Trenton Town Center can serve as guidance for both cities and developers nationwide when it comes to successfully implementing high-performance green building features within their projects.” -Dan Winters

Affordability alone is not enough: many of the most successful projects also include community centers, daycare centers, job training services, and easy access to public transit to provide working families with crucial support.

For the three principals of Magnusson Architecture and Planning, the construction and design business has always been more than just a way to make a living – it has been an outlet for their desire to make a difference in the world.

“This is a wonderful saving of a resource that could have easily have gone the way of the wrecking ball. It’s been given a level of delight and dignity where the residents feel they’re living in a very special place.” -Jury

“What is really interesting is the process of engagement with the community, the strategy for new sites and development, the kind of standards and vocabulary established, rather than the individual buildings.” -Jury

Gates Gardens, an award-winning residence for low- and middle-income seniors, has opened its doors in the Ridgewood-Bushwick section of Brooklyn, one of New York City’s most underprivileged neighborhoods.

Another standout project, Melrose Commons in the Bronx, took root when Magnusson Architecture & Planning began pro-bono consulting for the client, Nos Quedamos to protest the city’s Urban Renewal plans for Melrose.

Gates Gardens, an award-winning residence for low- and middle-income seniors, has opened its doors to residents of the Ridgewood-Bushwick section of Brooklyn, one of New York City’s most underprivileged neighborhoods.

“We are deeply honored,” said Magnus Magnusson. “We’ve spent many years ensuring that low- and moderate-income housing can be attractive, but when you receive an award like this from your peers it is especially gratifying.”

The Gates Gardens Senior Housing project is a new residence for low-income seniors in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn. Funded through the HUD Section 202 Senior Housing Program, it is located in one of the city’s poorest areas.

Magnusson Architecture and Planning has been saluted for its work in designing quality affordable housing by HELP USA, a non-profit organization that provides homes, job training and other services to low-income families.

A five-building apartment complex, built three decades ago, is being renovated and preserved for low- and moderate-income tenants. It is an exception to the trend of upgrading such publicly financed projects to market-rate and luxury units.

Vernon Cherry, a Brooklyn firefighter and wedding singer who died in the attack on the World Trade Center, never lived in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville section of Brooklyn, but 73 town houses going up there are to bear his name.

Rather than sit back and wait for architects and planners to tell them how to improve the prospects for their legendarily troubled borough, they joined with architects and planners to renegotiate the social contract between citizens and builders.

1990 - 1999

The much-maligned Bronx has been on a self-improvement kick of late. In one South Bronx area, community members have banded together to prevent their own displacement and are creating new housing and commercial spaces.

An enclave of three-family houses is taking shape in the heart of the South Bronx, signaling the long-awaited start of the ambitious plan by a local community group to transform what was once an urban wasteland into a viable neighborhood.

Melrose Commons, the groundbreaking attempt by a South Bronx community to design its own urban renewal plan, has made it through the New York City bureaucracy. Last month, it received final approval from the City Council.

The effort to maintain affordability, did not preclude providing a pleasing and marketable design. The two-family attached building type was selected because of its appropriate scale and density for this still largely urban community.

The incorporation of rental units along with distinctive facades links these houses with the traditional townhouse model common in the outer boroughs, while creating a lovely street elevation which breathe life into a once blighted neighborhood.

Pink. Peach. Yellow. Blue. The vibrant colors of the 26 new two-family houses at Melrose Avenue and East 155th Street in the Bronx strike some viewers as being a bit out of context. But that may be part of their appeal.